Summary Of The Essay 'Like By Patricia T. O' Connor

In the essay, “Like,” Patricia T. O’Conner discusses the various ways to express like to others, ranging from positive and affectionate vibes to hedging a statement. O’Connor claims that the users declare the word as a “handy tool for quoting or paraphrasing the speech of others,” associating it with gossiping and often “sarcasm or irony” (2). The author explains how a greater number of people perceive the new usage of the word as poor grammar and that “it’s used by the less educated among us,” despite that, there has been no reasonable amount of evidence that can further justify that statement (18).

O’Connor explores the idea of the word by seeing it developed into a newer meaning, calling it the process of “grammaticalization” (11). Furthermore,